Gerhard Hofland is proud to present Grow with the Flow, the first solo-exhibition by Bas de Wit (1977, Budel, NL) in the gallery. Featuring all new sculptures and wall-based works, this is De Wit’s first gallery exhibition in the Netherlands since 2015.

Throughout the work of Bas de Wit a peculiar world unfolds. Previous to Grow with the Flow modern icons, such as gnomes, pirates, street-workers, along other obscure figures, appeared in absurdist scenes. They are lazy, crazy, or merely hanging around waiting for something to go down. The world of De Wit is one without logic or reason; a clownesque commentary on the (art) world, and a reflection on the elusiveness of life itself. Life, according to the artist, has to be lived, not rationalised. As such, his work is a contemporary Comedie Humaine that opts for a humorous perspective on the struggle of humanity and the drag of the everyday.

In Grow with the Flow De Wit’s work takes on a more mediated approach. A sculpture garden with Greek columns and classic statues, cast in multicoloured polyester, is configured in the gallery. But where the original shape of the sculptures recalls various symbols of (art) history and cultural highlights, they now appear deformed, molten, and organic, as if affected by both nature and time. To the artist, however, they are not the result of archeological excavations – they have not been fished from a lake after centuries – but rather the brainchild of his outlook on the world today. Much like De Wit’s earlier works the sculptures in this exhibition offer a quirky display, and are as much a comment on the transience of culture as they are a glorification of irrational thought, and the fascinating properties of the artist’s materials.

Bas de Wit (1977, Budel, NL) lives and works in Maastricht, the Netherlands. He graduated from the Monumental Arts Department of the Academy of Fine Arts, Maastricht, and achieved a post-graduated degree at the Higher Institute for Fine Arts in Antwerp, Belgium. In 2008, De Wit was awarded the Royal Prize for Painting (NL). His work enjoyed much acclaim in Germany through Figge/Philipp von Rosen Galerie, while in the Netherlands his work has been shown at De Kunsthal, Rotterdam, Museum Bommel van Dam, Venlo, and at solo-exhibitions in De Domijnen, Sittard, and the Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht, among other places. In 2017, Gerhard Hofland brought De Wit to Amsterdam with a solo-presentation during Amsterdam Art Fair.